Istanbul
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Turkey will impose a two-day curfew in 15 provinces beginning midnight on Friday in an effort to stem the spread of coronavirus, which has claimed over 4,600 lives in the country, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The Interior Ministry said Thursday that the curfew will be in effect in Ankara as well as Istanbul, Izmir, Balikesir, Bursa, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Manisa, Sakarya, Samsun, Van and Zonguldak.

Ahead of the curfew, markets, grocery stores, greengrocers and butchers will continue to operate until 23:00 local time Friday, the statement said.

The same establishments will continue to operate from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time on June 6 but will close on June 7.

Bakeries will remain open during the curfew while restaurants will only offer takeaway services.

Turkey reported its first COVID-19 case on March 11 and, in late April, it surpassed Iran in the tally of total cases of COVID-19.

The first curfew was declared from April 11-12 and was followed by subsequent ones in recent weeks.

Turkey had 167,410 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, while recoveries surpassed 131,700.